“We need more rope,” was his only reply.
He directed them to lash Helena to the trunk of the pine and asked them to leave.
Caitlin took a few steps back. “Of course. We’ll wait here.”
Ezekiel turned sad eyes on her. “No, go back to the ship. This won’t take long.”
When they were out of earshot, he knelt just out of Helena’s reach and looked into her eyes. “You were there for me when I needed a friend. Now it’s my turn to be there for you.”
His hands glowed white again as he renewed his connection to Helena’s nanocytes. This time his command was simple, yet they were the most painful words he’d ever had to say.
“Self-destruct.”
He waited until the light in her eyes had faded before leaning in to kiss her forehead. “Goodbye, my friend. Know that you left this world loved. I’m going back to my home. Where I belong.”
He sat back on his haunches and opened his mind to Lilith. I’m coming home, Lilith, and I’m bringing my friends with me. I don’t think Cammie and Royland will stay with us, but I have Caitlin, and Kain, and Mary-Anne.
Lilith’s mental voice was layered with sadness and compassion. I’m so sorry for your loss. I hope her passing was peaceful.
Ezekiel got to his feet and gazed at Helena’s face for the last time. In the end, yes. He filled her in on the events of the night as he walked back to the dirigible.
How will you get here? Lilith asked.
We have a dirigible. We’ll make it somehow. Ezekiel’s heart lurched as he considered the difficult journey ahead. Tell Sarah Jennifer I’m coming home.
New Romanov
Sarah Jennifer had not stopped for more than a couple of hours’ rest here and there since Enora had brought the news that the Mad were on their way. Enora had reported in after returning from her regular flyover, telling them more Mad had joined the hordes slowly making their way toward the mountain.
Olaf roamed Siberia, radioing in from each village and town he came to. His army grew at each stop, and every day the ring of camps forming a barrier around New Romanov grew in number and size.
Esme came up from the cavern in the roots of the mountain twice a day to tend the recovered Mad, all of whom were awake and out of their beds thanks to her healing energy.
Lilith spoke into her mind. Sarah Jennifer. I have just spoken with Ezekiel.
Sarah Jennifer straightened in her seat. “And?”
He asked me to tell you he is coming, Lilith continued. His vampire friend has passed. He is bringing his group here, including the other vampire who is infected.
Sarah Jennifer swallowed hard. At last, the crack in her heart could be mended. She let out a long breath as she assimilated the idea of having her adopted son home again. “That’s… That’s big news.”
You already know two of his present company.
“Who?”
Cammie and Royland.
“From Prince Edward Island?”
Yes.
Sarah Jennifer frowned. “Royland is the infected vamp?”
No, they don’t intend to stay with Ezekiel’s group past Chicago. The infected vampire is called Mary-Anne. From what I gathered from Ezekiel, his group consists of Cammie and Royland, a human named Caitlin and her dog, a Were named Kain, and the vampire I just told you about, as well as the crew of the dirigible they’re flying in.
“Well, damn.” Sarah Jennifer sat back. “They’re going to have a hell of a welcome when they get here. Can you stay in touch with him as much as he’ll allow?”
Of course.
“Thank you. You know, you’d think after all this time I’d have dealt with my feelings about his choices.”
You see yourself as his adoptive parent. My experiences with humans have shown me that logic is often pushed aside when it comes to your children, no matter their age.
Sarah Jennifer folded her arms. “You’re saying I’m illogical?”
I’m saying I think you have done well to allow Ezekiel the space to make his mistakes, however you felt about the way he left. You haven’t rejected him despite the hurt he has caused you emotionally.
Sarah Jennifer sighed. “Why would I reject him? I knew from the start he was going to hurt me. It’s what kids do. It’s what I did to my family when I left them at Alameda. If anything, I wish I’d been more open about my past so the kid didn’t feel like he had to cut himself off to go find himself, or whatever.”
Lilith returned to her work, leaving Sarah Jennifer to get on with hers.
Diverting the Defense Force had been no easy decision. Neither was choosing to allow Ezekiel to make his own way here. However, Lilith had assured her that his present company was more than capable of protecting him, not that he needed it, and that they had transportation in the form of the dirigible.
As her grandfather had often said, perfect was the enemy of good enough. She knew better than to fall into that trap.
She was about to make the second of her twice-daily calls with Theor, who was running point for her on the defensive line, when she heard Esme’s footsteps heading her way from the lower levels. She looked up from her battle plan as the witch walked in. “You look happy.”
Esme headed straight for the coffee pot. “The printing is finally done.”
Sarah Jennifer let out a huge sigh of relief. “Then let’s get the airship loaded and get up there. The sooner we get the saturation done, the better.”
Esme looked askance at her, then extracted her cup from the machine. “I don’t know about you, but I need to eat before we get to work. I think you skipped a step or two. We do need to get up to the BYPS, but we won’t be starting the saturation today.”
Sarah Jennifer realized it had been almost eight hours since she’d crammed in a quick bite before settling down to work on the logistics of defending the mountain from the hordes of Mad. Working into the early hours tended to warp her perception of time. “I’m sure you’ll tell me why. But we eat fast. There’s not much time left and I’m not comfortable leaving the mountain unguarded.”
“It’s hardly unguarded with half of Siberia camped out down there.”
“You know what I mean,” Sarah Jennifer responded. Her stomach growled, putting an end to the conversation for the moment.
They headed for the mess and prepared their food in companionable silence. Sarah Jennifer gratefully drained a large mug of hot, sweet coffee while the cooking was happening and refilled it before going to sit down with her laden tray.
“You have your math face on,” Esme commented wryly.
Sarah Jennifer pushed her hair back and sighed. “Yeah. I like having Ace around for logistics planning. I’ve gotten lazy.”
“What’s the problem?” Esme asked.
“I got the numbers from Izzy late last night, and I’ve been working on the plan for the battle since then. It’s not adding up for me.”
Esme nodded. “Okay, break it down. You have one hundred thousand Weres, right?”
Sarah Jennifer seesawed a hand. “Thereabouts. A little less, but I like to round off.”
“How many on Mars? Fifteen, twenty thousand?”
“I’m only counting available combatants who are on active duty.” Sarah Jennifer’s orders were to save lives, not take them. So close to getting the patches out, it would be a travesty to deny so many the chance to reclaim their humanity if the Madness got into those peaceful communities scattered around the globe. “I’m not moving units from around Europe or the Protectorate, where they’re needed to protect vulnerable civilian populations.”
Esme’s forehead wrinkled. “You’re making this harder than it needs to be.”
“Did I mention I hate math? You can’t hit it, for a start.” Sarah Jennifer grinned at Esme’s pointed look. “I’m getting there. I have fifteen thousand coming in from Central and South America, and another six from California now the outbreak there has been suppressed. Olaf has mustered around eight thousand, maybe closer to ten by the time he fini
shes his tour of Arkhangelsk. I have three thousand from Reika, plus another two coming in with Amelie, but those are mostly weather and water mages.”
“Sounds to me like you have it under control,” Esme told her.
“I have to feed and quarter all those people,” Sarah Jennifer reminded her. “Izzy is working with the trade alliance to procure supplies, but again, we’re running into transport snafus.”
Esme grimaced. “Ah, the heart of the problem, as always.”
Sarah Jennifer nodded. All the technology in the Federation couldn’t make up for time and her need for people power. “I will get it resolved, one way or another. We have enough competing for the top spot on the objective in the meantime.”
Esme continued chatting as they breakfasted on sausage links and scrambled eggs fresh from the town. Sarah Jennifer hardly heard her, too focused on the mental playbook she had running, shifting resources to fill the coming need.
Esme waved a hand in front of her face. “Did you hear a word I just said?”
Sarah Jennifer blinked. “Um, no. Sorry. What did you say?”
“I was asking if you’d checked in with Mars,” Esme repeated. “Transport to and from the colony isn’t going to be possible for the next six months while the BYPS is activated to prevent the nanocytes we seed in the atmosphere from being lost to space.”
“What?” Sarah Jennifer frowned in confusion. “This is the first I’m hearing of this. Why do we need to activate the BYPS defensive measures?”
Esme dropped her fork onto her empty plate and reached for another slice of buttered toast. “Easiest way to make sure we get the nanocytes to where we need them. We used up all our reserves of biomass to print them. It’s no good if we lose them to space.”
“And the laser grid is the solution?” Sarah Jennifer wasn’t getting it. “Surely any we lose will be destroyed by the grid?”
Esme shook her head. “I sent you a report.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
Sarah Jennifer didn’t recall it and told her friend so.
“That explains your confusion. And why you didn’t prioritize the task.” Esme groaned. “Okay, it’s like this. The laser grid emits an energy field we can use to repel anything escaping Earth’s atmosphere.”
“You mean, destroy it?” Sarah Jennifer was familiar with the operating parameters of the BYPS.
Esme shook her head. “That’s why we’re going up there. I want to see if we can tweak the system to make it produce something more along the lines of a static barrier that will push back instead of obliterating anything that comes into contact with it.”
Sarah Jennifer’s shoulders slumped. “So, we won’t be releasing the nanocytes today.”
Esme shook her head. “No. Especially since we need to make sure everyone building Promessa is adequately supplied for the time we’re going to be cut off from Mars.”
Sarah Jennifer got to her feet and went over to the sink to take care of her tray. “More supply issues. Fantastic. I need to get hold of Brutus.”
Esme joined her at the sink. “We can do that from the airship.”
Sarah Jennifer paused to look at the camps as they made their way out of the mountain. Thousands of tiny fires lit the predawn, the gently curving line evidence of her efforts to reconnect the world.
She reached out to Olaf first when they got to the cockpit.
“What can I do for you, Major?” the werebear asked.
“Esme and I need to go up to the BYPS,” Sarah Jennifer informed him. “I need you back here. We’re going to be gone a few days while we fix a supply run to Mars.”
“No problem,” Olaf replied. “Theor is keeping things together in the camps, right?”
Sarah Jennifer confirmed the Icelandic Were was doing a more than satisfactory job of managing the various bands of warriors Olaf sent their way.
“The man is Matriarch-sent,” Olaf admitted. “I couldn’t ask for a better second.”
“I think he might consider you his second,” Esme cut in.
Olaf laughed, the sound rich and deep. “One of these days, we’ll have to settle that.”
“It had better wait until we don’t have the Mad breathing down our necks,” Sarah Jennifer told him. “We have no room for leadership challenges right now.”
“I’m just playing,” Olaf assured her. “Theor and I have a good relationship.”
“Amelie will be at the Petersburg Estuary by now,” Sarah Jennifer reminded him. “Enora counted an additional seven or eight thousand Mad on her latest scouting mission.”
Olaf cursed.
“Don’t think I won’t find a way to teach you some manners,” Sarah Jennifer told him, unimpressed by his poor language. “We need to extend the defensive line to the east to cover the towns out that way.”
“I’ll get on it as soon as I get back to New Romanov,” Olaf promised.
Sarah Jennifer closed the radio link and opened the Etheric comm to get hold of Brutus.
There was a short wait before he picked up. “How’s it, cuz?” she asked.
“Pretty good!” came the reply. “You sound a bit…stressed.”
Sarah Jennifer snorted. “Yeah, missing a memo that puts us back will do that. I need to check on your inventory status. What will you need to get by for six months?”
Brutus laughed. “I see. You’re getting ready to activate the BYPS around Earth.”
Sarah Jennifer was pleasantly surprised. “You know already?”
“Well, yeah. Esme told us about it months ago.”
“See, someone read my report,” Esme grouched.
“Give it a rest, Esme,” Sarah Jennifer retorted. “I missed one report. It’s not like I don’t have all of Earth and Mars to be aware of. Brutus, supply status?”
“We’re good. We’re already planting the modded wheat, rye, and corn in the ag sector. Hydroponics is up and running without any issue. I won’t lie, the coffee is gonna run short at the rate the scientists are slurping their way through it, but Ace has us covered otherwise.”
Sarah Jennifer shot Esme a look. “Thank you for picking up my slack,” she told Brutus. “I’ll get a shipment of perishables sent up before we do anything with the BYPS.”
“Hey, are comms gonna be down while the grid is up?” he asked.
Sarah Jennifer looked at Esme for the answer.
“No idea,” Esme told him. “Could be.”
“Give me twelve hours before you switch it on?” Brutus requested. “Give everyone time to call home if it’s gonna be our last chance for six months.” He paused. “Damn, six months. Didn’t seem like such a big deal in theory, but now I’m wondering how much my kids will have grown by the time I see them again.”
“You won’t be cut off from your children,” Sarah Jennifer vowed. “I’ll approve Etheric comms for the families of everyone on Mars.”
“Might want to give him his twelve hours just the same,” Esme suggested. “That many comm sets will take a couple of weeks to source components for and produce.”
“Of course,” Sarah Jennifer agreed. “It’s probably going to take us that long to figure out what we need to do to adjust the BYPS, anyway.”
“I’ll pass on the word,” Brutus told them before signing off.
Sarah Jennifer paused for a moment before getting up from her seat. “We’re spread so thin.”
Esme put a hand on her shoulder. “I know, Duckie. But our allies have answered the call. We’re not alone in this.”
Sarah Jennifer didn’t know what she would do without the good friends who had her back. “Come on. We need to get out there and get started.”
They made their way to the drop bay and pulled on EVA suits over their clothing before getting into the roamer they’d kept back from the consignment sent to Mars.
The small vehicle was rated for all environments and handled like an ATV—if the ATV was AI-controlled and had a bubble of transparent alien polymer instead of a roof.
&n
bsp; Enora opened the drop doors and guided the roamer to the primary satellite.
Of all the Queen’s technology, the BYPS was the most intimidating. The roamer was dwarfed by the satellite, adding to the feeling Sarah Jennifer had of being in the presence of something far beyond her understanding.
Truth be told, her usefulness ended at being the only one with clearance to access the system, even if she could follow Esme’s instructions to work on it.
Esme sensed her thinking, as always. She tapped Sarah Jennifer’s arm. “You’re woolgathering again. Helmet on, Duckie. Time's a-wasting.”
Chapter Thirteen
The satellite admitted them after Sarah Jennifer confirmed her identity. They unclipped their tethers once they were inside the airlock, and the hatch closed without a sound.
Air rushed in and sound returned, and a thousand tiny hisses and clicks filled Sarah Jennifer’s hearing as she and Esme eased through the inner hatch into the small space beyond, where the controls for the entire system were mounted on large panels wrapped around a single high-backed stool.
Esme clucked in approval. “Now, this is fancy.”
Sarah Jennifer had no clue what all the dials and switches did. “Where do we start?”
Esme bumped her out of the way and claimed the stool. “Don’t touch anything until I say. Last thing we want is another great big mess on Earth.”
“Have at it. I have enough to do,” Sarah Jennifer told her, extracting her datapad from her suit pocket. She fired off a quick message to Izzy requesting the perishables she’d promised Brutus to be prepared for pickup within the next hour, then opened the app she was using to plan the defense of New Romanov.
A few minutes later, a question occurred to her. She glanced over Esme’s shoulder at the monitor the witch was working at. “How exactly do you alter the system, anyway?”
“I’m downloading a copy of the operating system. I’m going to work on altering it to adjust the frequency of the output when activated. The plan is to convince the system to produce the same kind of shielding we used to keep the Mad contained in the lab.” Esme’s fingers flew over the keyboard as she answered. “Plus, Enora has written a program for the climate control modules that needs uploading. That’s going to take a while. We’re using the prevailing winds to propagate the nanocytes. We need to be in control of the weather systems around the globe.”
End of the Line Page 11